Sensex down 535pts; breadth extremely -ve

The Sensex is now down 535 points at 15,441. The markets are now closed due to 'sun outage' and will reopen at 1230 hrs.

The NSE Nifty is down 125 points at 4,646.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has slumped 11.3% to Rs 2,650, and Reliance Energy (REL) has plunged 10.6% to Rs 1,135.

BHEL has tumbled 7.5% to Rs 1,876, and Bajaj Auto has shed 6.8% at Rs 1,761.

HDFC, ICICI Bank, Maruti and Hindalco have dropped around 4.5% each to Rs 2,510, Rs 853, Rs 892 and Rs 188, respectively.

Reliance and Reliance Communications have slipped nearly 4% each to Rs 2,165 and Rs 522, respectively.

Ranbaxy, Satyam, DLF and HDFC Bank are the other major losers.

Mahindra & Mahindra, however, is up 1% at Rs 673.

The market breadth is extremely negative - out of 2,447 stocks traded so far, 2,242 have declined, 183 have advanced and 22 are unchanged.